Hunter Morning News | Friday, May 19, 2017

The Hunter’s balmy Autumn weather is set to change with the Bureau of Meteorology forecasting a dive in temperatures and a 90 per cent chance of rain by Friday afternoon.

A minimum of seven degrees and a maximum of 13 degrees are forecast for Friday.

Saturday has a higher chance of rain with the chance of a thunderstorm in the Upper Hunter and overnight temperatures falling to around 10 degrees. The region’s rain is tipped to ease on Sunday but temperatures will still remain in the lower range. Read on.

SURF: Surf conditions may be more powerful than they appear and are expected to be hazardous for coastal activities such as rock fishing and swimming.

TRAFFIC: Early morning truck breakdown on Charlestown Road at Kotara. Clear across the rest of the region.

► Firefighting demonstrations, station tours and safety presentations will be on offer at the Fire and Rescue NSW open day this Saturday.

“Keep looking when cooking” is the theme of this year’s open day, which will run from 10am to 2pm at most FRNSW stations. Check out the full list here.

► Three dead rabbits were discovered and seized as part of an animal welfare raid at a Cessnock greyhound training area on Thursday.

Greyhound Racing NSW (GRNSW) and the RSPCA have commenced a joint investigation to determine if any criminal offences had been committed under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act or any offences have been committed under the GRNSW Greyhound Racing Rules. The property owner has also been given an interim suspension on his registration as a greyhound participant. Read on.

► Relieved tears flowed at the foothills of the Barringtons after an elderly couple and their daughter, who were reported missing in the wilderness overnight, were reunited with family.

Henryk and Elaine Pinkowski, both aged in their 70s, set out with their 44 year-old daughter Angela from Cardiff on Wednesday morning bound for Upper Allyn, north west of Dungog. More here.

FOUND: A Newcastle family, reported missing on Wednesday, were found on Thursday just before midday. Picture: Perry Duffin

► On Tuesday morning, during their 2017/18 budget breakfast, Muswellbrook Shire Council reported it had exchanged contracts to buy Muswellbrook Marketplace for $34.25 million.

Naturally, business owners were curious where this would lead them in the future, but positivity seemed to be the overriding theme.

And, a few suggestions were thrown around for the centre’s future including a Kmart, a shoe shop and a sport store. Read on.

► A man who brutally stabbed his ex-wife's new boyfriend to death in the victim's own home has been sentenced to more than 23 years jail.

Newcastle Supreme Court Justice Peter Hamill also declared on Thursday that Gregory John Thompson would spend at least 17 years and seven months behind bars before he is eligible for parole. Read on.

CAUGHT: Police surround Gregory John Thompson's car outside Michael Moad's house in Cessnock on March 1, 2015. This week Mr Thompson was sentenced for the killing.

► Former Hunter priest Archbishop Philip Wilson, the most senior Catholic cleric in the world to be charged with concealing the child sex crimes of another priest, has launched his third attempt to stop the case against him from proceeding. Read the full report.

► STAWELL, VIC: On August 4 last year, the lives of Stawell sisters Liz Harrington and Kelly Curran were “normal”, but that quickly changed when their mother was diagnosed with bowel cancer the next day. “It was just like walking over a dark, dark line,” Ms Harrington said. “We thought our mother was fine and it was in really trying circumstances that we found out her diagnosis.”

► ILLOWA, VIC: Illowa Poll Hereford breeder Clinton Baulch has had good luck come in threes with a rare birth of triplet calves at his property. Mr Baulch, who established Jaclinton Poll Herefords in 2008, said all of the triplet calves were bulls, which he understood was about a one in 400,000 chance.

► Australians are working less, even as more of us get jobs. The latest labour force figures show an extra 97,400 Australians found work in March and April – 60,000 in March and 37,400 in April. Over the two months taken together, the majority of the new jobs were full time – 62,400 versus 35,000 part time. Yet the number of hours worked per month fell by 1.1 million. The change appears to have been caused by both full-time and part-time workers putting in fewer hours rather than a substitution of full-time for part-time jobs.

► It used to be much simpler – couples would buy a house and then start a family. But now, we are starting families and then looking for somewhere to rent. In a generation, the number of Victorian families renting has more than doubled. More than 200,000 Victorian families are renting now, according to an analysis of bonds and census data between 1996 and 2016 by the Tenants Union of Victoria.

► The former governor of Bali's Kerobokan jail has said Schapelle Corby has served her three years of parole in Bali well and deserves her freedom. Corby, 39, who was convicted in 2005 for attempting to smuggle 4.2 kilograms of marijuana into Bali in a boogie board bag, is just days away from being deported back to Australia on May 27. Former prison governor Gusti Ngurah Wiratna told Fairfax Media that Corby should use the lessons she had learned in Bali to live the rest of her life.

On this day

May 19, 1536: Days after their marriage was annulled, King Henry VIII has his second wife Anne Boleyn beheaded for adultury, treason and incest. Henry had had Anne investigated for high treason in April 1536. Despite the heavy charges against her, modern historians view them as unconvincing. Henry needed a way to end his marriage with Anne to be able to marry Jane Seymour - the woman he believed would finally produce him a son.

Faces of Australia: Enis Wallis

​A RESIDENT at the Meercroft Aged Care facility in Devonport was all smiles as she celebrated her 100th birthday with friends and family on Wednesday.

Enis Wallis was up for the celebration, still with a spring in her step, after 100 years of life.

When it came to the question of how she managed to live as long as she had, Ms Wallis was unsure how to respond.

“Why I have lived this long I have no idea,” she said.

Ms Wallis led a healthy and active life, in her younger years she enjoyed playing hockey and tennis. Read more.